Method and apparatus for communication within control systems

ABSTRACT

A drive-by-communication-signal vehicle includes a driver interface subsystem having a sensor responsive to an operational characteristic of the driver interface subsystem, a controller responsive to the sensor, a vehicle subsystem responsive to the controller, and a communication channel in signal communication with the driver interface subsystem, the controller, and the vehicle subsystem. The controller includes a storage medium, a processing circuit, and a clock synchronization mechanism defining synchronous communication cycles, with each communication cycle defining at least one time interval. The storage medium, being readable by the processing circuit, stores instructions for execution by the processing circuit for executing and communicating ordered tasks within defined time intervals with flexible task scheduling.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 12/619,018, filed Nov. 16, 2009, now pending, which is a divisionalapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/028,886, filed Jan. 4, 2005,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,693,628, which are hereby incorporated by referencein their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to a method and apparatus forcommunication within control systems, and particularly to a method andapparatus for communication within drive-by-wire systems for use inautomobiles.

The term drive-by-wire originally referred to methods of automaticsteering of a vehicle using circuits embedded in a road surface. Today,the term refers to the removal of mechanical linkages between driverinterfaces of a vehicle and the vehicle subsystems that actually performthe work, and the introduction of sensors, a central controller,peripheral control systems, and signal communication, to perform thedesired vehicle maneuver. Instead of operating the steering, brakes andthrottle directly, via drive gears, linkages, or hydraulic pistons forexample, a drive-by-wire system would control the response of thevehicle via sensors, a central or distributed controller, and commandscommunicated to peripheral control systems, such as stepper motors forexample, over a communication bus.

By integrating the steering, braking, and propulsion control subsystemsof a vehicle into a drive-by-wire system, synergistic vehicleperformance is anticipated, resulting in improved vehicle handling,especially in bad road conditions, better fuel economy, reducedemissions, and improved reaction times in emergency situations. Withdrive-by-wire systems, it is also contemplated that reduced cost andcomplexity of manufacture may be achievable.

While present control-by-wire systems used in automobiles may besuitable for their intended purposes, there is a need in the art forsignal communication schemes between a source node and a destinationnode, or between a source node and multiple destination nodes, via anassociated communication controller, that would be more advantageous forthe scheduling of operating system tasks in a high volume automotiveproduction cycle environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention include a method for synchronouscommunication in a control system. Within a first time interval, a firstsource task is executed to broadcast a first destination task, within asecond sequential time interval, the first destination task iscommunicated over a channel to a first destination, and within a thirdsequential time interval, the first destination task is consumed. Withinthe first time interval, a second source task may be executed tobroadcast a second destination task, within the second sequential timeinterval, the second destination task may be communicated over thechannel to a second destination, and within the third sequential timeinterval, the second destination task may be consumed. The first sourcetask is allowed to be scheduled ahead of the second source task, and thesecond source task is allowed to be scheduled ahead of the first sourcetask.

Further embodiments of the invention include a controller responsive toa clock synchronization mechanism defining synchronous communicationcycles, with each communication cycle defining at least one timeinterval. The controller having a storage medium and a processingcircuit. The storage medium, being readable by the processing circuit,stores instructions for execution by the processing circuit forpracticing embodiments of the aforementioned method.

Additional embodiments of the invention include adrive-by-communication-signal vehicle including a driver interfacesubsystem having a sensor responsive to an operational characteristic ofthe driver interface subsystem, a controller responsive to the sensor, avehicle subsystem responsive to the controller, and a communicationchannel in signal communication with the driver interface subsystem, thecontroller, and the vehicle subsystem. The controller includes a storagemedium, a processing circuit, and a clock synchronization mechanismdefining synchronous communication cycles, with each communication cycledefining at least one time interval. The storage medium, being readableby the processing circuit, stores instructions for execution by theprocessing circuit for practicing embodiments of the aforementionedmethod.

Yet further embodiments of the invention include a computer programproduct for synchronous communication in a control system. The productincludes a storage medium, readable by a processing circuit, that storesinstructions for execution by the processing circuit for practicingembodiments of the aforementioned method.

Yet additional embodiments of the invention include a distributedcontrol by wire system having a first processing circuit and a secondprocessing circuit, where each of the first and second processingcircuits are adapted for separately executing instructions forpracticing embodiments of the aforementioned method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the exemplary drawings wherein like elements are numberedalike in the accompanying Figures:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary vehicle for implementing embodiments of theinvention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate exemplary task and communication schedules inaccordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary three-stage pipeline for use inaccordance with embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative task and communication schedule tothat depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention provide a vehicle, such as an automobilefor example, operable via a control-by-wire system, or more generally acontrol-by-communication-signal system, with a controller, whether it bea central or a distributed controller, that operates under a synchronouscommunication scheme such that a source task is executed in a first timeinterval, such as a communication cycle or segment thereof, the outputsof the source task are communicated, either directly or in a broadcastmanner, to a destination task in a second sequential time interval, andthe results are consumed by the destination task in a third sequentialtime interval. By scheduling the communication-task pair to be operativein sequential time intervals, a three-stage pipeline may be employed toproduce a functional output at each clock cycle after initialization.Data dependencies from one node, across a communication channel, such asa bus topology, a star topology, a fiber optic network, or a wirelessnetwork, for example, to another node, are prohibited within a singletime interval, thereby enabling both task scheduling and communicationscheduling to be order-independent within a given time interval.

While embodiments described herein depict an automobile as an exemplaryimplementation of the invention, it will be appreciated that thedisclosed invention is also applicable to other vehicles, such astrucks, buses and military vehicles, for example, and to other controlsystems employing cyclical communication between two or more nodes, suchas in electrical appliances for example. While embodiments describedherein depict a control-by-wire system, it will be appreciated that thedisclosed invention is also applicable to other communication systems,which may be more generally referred to ascontrol-by-communication-signal systems.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of a vehicle 100 having a driverinterface subsystem 105, a controller 110, a vehicle subsystem 115, anda communication channel 120. An exemplary vehicle 100 has a front 101, arear 102, a left side 103, and a right side 104. While controller 110 isdepicted in FIG. 1 as a centralized controller, this is for illustrativepurposes only, and the scope of the invention is also intended toinclude separate communication controllers 110 that are associated witha respective sending node of the driver interface subsystem 105.

In an exemplary embodiment, driver interface subsystem 105 includes asteering system interface 125 having a steering sensor 130, a brakingsystem interface 135 having a braking sensor 140, and a propulsionsystem interface 145 having a propulsion sensor 150. In an embodiment,steering system interface 125 is a steering wheel, braking systeminterface 135 is a brake pedal, and propulsion system interface 145 isan accelerator pedal, all of which may be operated by a driver 95.However, steering system interface 125, braking system interface 135,and propulsion system interface 145 may be integrated into a singledriver control interface, such as a joystick (not shown, but generallyreferred to as driver interface subsystem 105), for example. With theuse of a joystick, vehicle acceleration may be accomplished by movingthe joystick forward, vehicle braking by moving the joystick backward,and vehicle steering by moving the joystick left and right. Sensors 130,140 and 150 sense the position of the respective driver interfacesubsystems 105, and communicate a signal to controller 110 in responsethereto.

In an exemplary embodiment, vehicle subsystem 115 includes a steeringcontrol system 155 for controlling the steering of wheels 160 (front,rear or both), a braking control system 165 for controlling the brakingof wheels 160, and a propulsion control system 170 for controlling thepropulsion provided by power plant 175. In an embodiment, steeringcontrol system 155 is a stepper motor, braking control system 165 is asolenoid driven hydraulic piston, propulsion control system 170 is anelectronic control module, and power plant 175 is a fuel cell system.However, embodiments of the invention are not limited to only thosevehicle subsystems depicted or discussed, and may be employed with anyother vehicle subsystems suitable for their intended purpose, such as acombustion engine used in place of a fuel cell for power plant 175 forexample.

An exemplary controller 110 includes a storage medium 180, a firstprocessing circuit 185, a second processing circuit 186, and a clocksynchronization mechanism 190 that defines synchronous communicationcycles. In an embodiment the clock synchronization mechanism 190 may bea system clock. However, there may or may not be a single system clockthat all nodes use. As a general matter, the clock synchronizationmechanism 190 may be a sophisticated mechanism used to createdistributed clock synchronization across all nodes, thereby avoiding asystem failure in the event of a faulty single system clock. First andsecond processing circuits 185, 186 are adapted to communicate over acommon communication channel 120, thereby providing a distributedcommunication scheme that may be globally synchronous and locallyasynchronous. In order to provide a global time base, communication overthe channel 120 is structured into repeated time intervals (cycles) andportions of a cycle (slots), which will be discussed in more detailbelow. However, it should be noted at this time that each processingcircuit 185,186 is allocated certain slots, which grants the processingcircuits 185, 186 exclusive ownership of the shared communicationresource (channel 120). While only two processing circuits 185, 186 aredepicted at controller 110, it will be appreciated that this is forillustration purposes only and that embodiments of the invention mayinclude a multitude of processing circuits that operate in a mannerdisclosed herein. It will also be appreciated that the multitude ofprocessing circuits may be distributed over multiple controllers.

In general, sensors 130, 140, 150 are responsive to the respectivedriver interface subsystem 105 for providing a signal representative ofan operational characteristic of the driver interface subsystem 105 tocontroller 110, controller 110 is responsive to the sensor input forperforming signal processing and providing a control signal to therespective vehicle subsystem 115, and vehicle subsystem 115, beingresponsive to controller 110, consumes and carries out the desiredfunction of the control signal. Signals from driver interface subsystem105 to controller 110, and from controller 110 to vehicle subsystem 115,are communicated via communication channel 120.

Storage medium 180 is readable by processing circuits 185, 186 andstores instructions for execution by processing circuits 185, 186 forcarrying out embodiments of the invention, which will now be discussedwith reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In general, FIGS. 2 and 3 depict threesequential communication cycles 200, 205 and 210, herein referred to asa first communication cycle 200, a second sequential communication cycle205, and a third sequential communication cycle 210, which areillustrated as being separated by solid vertical black lines. Programtasks 215 are labeled TA1, TA2, TB1, TB2 and TB3, for example. The “T”descriptor identifies the block as a program task, the “A” and “B”descriptors identify whether the task is associated with a source node“A” or a destination node “B”, and the “1”, “2” and “3” descriptorsidentify a unique task at the respective node.

With reference to FIG. 1, a source node “A” may be viewed as one of thedriver interface subsystems 105, and a destination node “B” may beviewed as one of the vehicle subsystems 115. Channel slots 220 atcontroller 110 are designated “S1” through “S9”, which representportions of time available for communication on channel 120 that may beexclusively dedicated to a processing circuit 185, 186 of controller110. Alternatively, in an embodiment having a multitude of controllers,certain slots may be exclusively allocated to certain controllers. Thenumbers of time slots 220 are not limited to only nine (S1-S9), and maybe any number of slots that may reasonably fit with a communicationcycle 200, 205, 210 and be suitable for implementing embodiments of theinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a first source task TA1 is executed atprocessing circuit 185 within first communication cycle 200. The resultsof source task TA1 broadcast a unique destination task TB2, which iscommunicated via slot S2 of communication channel 120 during secondcommunication cycle 205. During third communication cycle 210, thedelivery of destination task TB2 is completed, that is, the results ofsource task TA1 are consumed by destination task TB2 at the respectivedestination node. As can be seen, data dependencies from one node “A”,across the channel 120, to another node “B”, within a singlecommunication cycle 200, 205, 210, are prohibited, thereby enabling bothtask scheduling and communication scheduling to be order-independentwithin a communication cycle, which is best seen by comparing FIGS. 2and 3.

Referring now to FIG. 3, source task TA1, depicted scheduled ahead ofTA2, which is opposite to that of FIG. 2, is executed at processingcircuit 185 within first communication cycle 200. The results of sourcetask TA1 broadcast the unique destination task TB2, which iscommunicated via slot S8 of communication channel 120 during secondcommunication cycle 205. During third communication cycle 210, thedelivery of destination task TB2 is completed, that is, the results ofsource task TA1 are consumed by destination task TB2 at the respectivedestination node. Even though FIG. 3 illustrates a different schedulingorder of source tasks TA1 and TA2, and a different usage ofcommunication slots S2 and S8, the end result of the two schedulesdepicted by FIGS. 2 and 3 will result in identical system behavior.

In view of the foregoing, and by referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 together, itcan be seen that embodiments of the invention will allow: the executionof a second source task TA2 that broadcasts a second destination taskTB3 to be executed within the first communication cycle 200; thecommunication of the second destination task TB3 over channel 120 to asecond destination within the second communication cycle 205; and, theconsumption of second destination task TB3 within the thirdcommunication cycle 210, where the first source task TA1 may bescheduled ahead of the second source task TA2 (FIG. 3), and the secondsource task TA2 may be scheduled ahead of the first source task TA1(FIG. 2).

Also, the results of source task TA1 may be communicated over slot S2(FIG. 2) or slot S8 (FIG. 3). Thus, in the scenario of FIG. 2, theresults of source task TA2 may be communicated over slot S8, and in thescenario of FIG. 3, the results of source task TA2 may be communicationover slot S2. Accordingly, by employing embodiments of the invention, afirst channel slot (S2 for example) may be scheduled ahead of a secondchannel slot (S8 for example), or vice versa, that is, S8 may bescheduled ahead of S2.

Furthermore, the completed delivery of a first destination task TB2,that is, the consumption of the results of first source task TA1 at therespective destination node, may be scheduled ahead of the completeddelivery of a second destination task TB3, that is, the consumption ofthe results of the associated source task. Here, FIG. 2 illustratesfirst destination task TB2 being scheduled ahead of second destinationtask TB3, and FIG. 3 illustrates second destination task TB3 beingscheduled ahead of first destination task TB2.

As discussed previously, the two schedules depicted by FIGS. 2 and 3will result in identical system behavior, thereby resulting in asynchronous time-triggered control-by-wire communication scheme wherethe task scheduling, and the channel slots themselves, is orderindependent.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first source task TA1 broadcasts avehicle subsystem control signal that is responsive to the operationalcharacteristics sensed by sensors 130, 140, 150 at the respective driverinterface subsystem 105, and the first destination task TB2 defines acontrol function for implementation at the respective vehicle subsystem115. For example, source task TA1 may include; receiving the raw signalfrom steering system sensor 130, which is representative of a turnedsteering wheel, signal conditioning of the incoming signal, and signalprocessing to calculate a steering angle, and destination task TB2 mayinclude; receiving the steering angle signal, signal conditioning theincoming signal, and signal processing to establish a stepper motorvoltage level and duration. In this manner, controller 110 may be viewedas being operably responsive, in accordance with first source task TA1,to the operational characteristics received from driver interfacesubsystem 105, and vehicle subsystem 115 may be viewed as being operablyresponsive, in accordance with first destination task TB2, to thecontrol signals received from controller 110.

As discussed previously, by scheduling the execution of a given sourcetask, such as TA1 for example, to be operative in each communicationcycle, a three-stage pipeline may be employed, which is best seen by nowreferring to FIG. 4. Here, each of the three repetitions 1-3 representsa three-cycle communication scheme as previously discussed, that is,execution in the cycle-1, communication in cycle-2, and consumption incycle-3. As cycle-1 is completed and the process enters cycle-2(stage-2), processing circuit 185, for example, can now perform anotherexecution of source task TA1 in response to node “A”, while the resultsof the previous execution (stage-1) are being communicated over slot S3.And, as cycle-2 is completed and the process enter cycle-3 (stage-3),processing circuit 185 can perform yet another execution of source taskTA1 in response to node “A”, while the results of the first execution(stage-1) are being consumed by destination task TB2, and while theresults of the second execution (stage-2) are being communicated overslot S3. In this manner, communication speed may be enhanced withoutprocessor wait time. As used herein, the terms “stage-1”, “stage-2”, and“stage-3”, refer to a first, second, and third phase, respectively, of asequential execution of a single repetition of an algorithm in apipeline design, where each repetition of the algorithm is staggered inits start time by one cycle relative to the previous repetition.

While some of the aforementioned embodiments may ensure task ordering byimplementing a policy where computation tasks always operate on sentdata from the previous cycle, thereby avoiding a double-bufferingarrangement, other embodiments that do not implement such a policy mayhave communication tasks occurring in the same cycle as a computationtask, thereby requiring a double-buffering arrangement or othercommunication scheme to ensure a deterministic schedule.

By referring now to FIG. 5, an alternative communication scheme to thatof FIGS. 2 and 3 will now be described that maintains task orderingwhile avoiding the need for a double-buffering arrangement. In FIG. 5,the three representative communication cycles 300, 305, 310, which arecomparable to communication cycles 200, 205, 210 of FIGS. 2 and 3, areeach segmented into two time segments 315, 320. While only two segments315, 320 are depicted in FIG. 5, it will be appreciated that any numberof segments may be used that may reasonably fit with a communicationcycle 300, 305, 310 and be suitable for implementing embodiments of theinvention.

It should be noted at this time that where FIGS. 2 and 3 depictsynchronous communication cycles 200, 205, 210 as discrete timeintervals, FIG. 5 depicts synchronous communication segments 315, 320 asdiscrete time intervals. Thus, and as used herein, a discrete timeinterval may be viewed as a complete communication cycle or a segment ofa communication cycle, depending on the context in which the timeinterval is being applied.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, three processing circuits ECU-1, ECU-2 andECU-3, which compare with aforementioned processing circuits 185, 186,for example, have defined computation tasks 325, and communicationchannel BUS-1, which compares with aforementioned channel 120, forexample, has defined slots 330. As depicted, a functional communicationthread 335, which may be a steering control command for example,includes a communication task occurring in the first segment 315 of eachcycle 300, 305, 310, and a computation task occurring in the secondsegment 320 of each cycle 300, 305, 310. By separating the communicationtask into the first half segment 315, and the computation task into thesecond half segment 320, task ordering can be maintained without theneed for double-buffering.

As depicted, slots 330 associated with BUS-1 includes four slots 340 inthe first segment 315 of each cycle 300, 305, 310, and two slots 345 inthe second segment 320 of each cycle 300, 305, 310, where “S” refers toa sending unit and “R” refers to a receiving unit of the associatedcommunication signal. In general, each slot of BUS-1 is dedicated to anassociated sending unit (the sending ECU for example) of the controlsystem (controller 110 for example). Specifically for the embodiment ofFIG. 5, the third slot 343 of each first segment 315 is dedicated toECU-2 (which is the sending unit not specifically shown in FIG. 5), thefourth slot 344 of each first segment 315 is dedicated to ECU-3, thefirst slot 341 of each first segment 315 is dedicated to ECU-1, and thesecond slot 342 of each first segment 315 is dedicated to ECU-2. Byproviding a processing circuit (ECU-1, ECU-2 and ECU-3, for example)with exclusive control of a communication slot, schedule ordering of acomputation task within a segment becomes non-critical, as long as thetasks are allocated sequentially to different segments. However, astipulation for proper task scheduling is that the task executescompletely within its assigned segment.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the computation tasks 325associated with ECU-1, ECU-2 and ECU-3 are different for the two halfsegments 315, 320. For example, ECU-1 includes two tasks in the firsthalf segment 315 and two tasks in the second half segment 320, ECU-2includes two tasks in the first half segment 315 and three tasks in thesecond half segment 320, and ECU-3 includes two tasks in the first halfsegment 315 and one task in the second half segment 320. As depicted,the exemplary communication thread 335 consists of three tasks that aremade up of the one task in the second half segment 320 of ECU-3, thefirst of the two tasks in the second half segment 320 of ECU-1, and thesecond of the three tasks in the second half segment 320 of ECU-2, inthat order. Since the processing of the communication and computationtasks is cyclical, in accordance with the clock cycle of the clocksynchronization mechanism 190, and because the exemplary communicationthread 335 consists of three functions (computations), the thread 335acts like a pipelined process, discussed previously, in which after aninitial three cycles, an output function (a steering control command forexample) is produced every cycle.

While FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary thread 335 of communication 330 andcomputation 325 tasks, it will be appreciated that the example presentedis merely one of many control commands that processing circuits 185,186, ECU-1, ECU-2 and ECU-3, may perform, and that embodiments of theinvention are not limited to only those exemplary embodiments disclosedherein.

Furthermore, while FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary thread 335 consisting ofthree computation tasks 325 that define its control command cycle, itwill be appreciated that the invention is not so limited and that otherthreads that define other control commands may use any number ofsegments across a range of clock cycles, thereby resulting in othercontrol command cycles having a different start-up duration. However,due to the pipelining scheme, each control command cycle will produce anoutput function every clock cycle following the completion of itsinitial cycle.

As disclosed herein, a segmented synchronous communication strategyconsists of two rules for task allocation. First, data dependencieswithin a functional process are decoupled in a segmented communicationcycle thus ensuring synchronous composition and determinism. Second,task ordering of every thread is preserved by strictly adhering to thesequential ordering of the tasks to segments. These two rules may berepresented as follows:

Rule 1: If task_(i)∈segment_(x), then task_(i+1)∉segment_(x);

Rule 2: If task_(i)∈segment_(x), then task_(i+1)∈segment_(y) where1<=<S, where S is the number of segments.

That is, if task(i) is a member of segment(x), then task(i+1) is not amember of segment(x), and if there are S segments and if task(i) is amember of segment(x), then task(i+1) is a member of segment(y) where yis equal to or greater than 1 and less than S.

As disclosed, a periodic functional process consists of a number ofthreads, and each thread consists of a number of tasks. Tasks may be acomputation operation or a communication operation, and are allocatedsuch that synchronous composition is preserved by placing thecomputation and communication tasks in different segments. In theabstraction, a communication task may be viewed as being executed on ashared resource, and a computation task may be viewed as being executedon parallelized dedicated resources. Each periodic functional processmay be decomposed and mapped into a distributed network time-triggeredcommunication system such that complete cycle sequences repeatperiodically at each clock cycle.

While embodiments of the invention have been disclosed illustrating acomputation task followed by a communication task, it will beappreciated that the invention is not so limited, and that the inventionalso encompasses embodiments having a communication-computation taskpair, a computation-computation task pair, or acommunication-communication task pair. In any event, by applying the tworules discussed above to the periodic functional process, synchronouscomposition and schedule independence within a communication segment maybe preserved.

As previously discussed, an embodiment of the invention may be embodiedin the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses forpracticing those processes. Alternatively, the present invention may beembodied in the form of computer program code containing instructionsembodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, harddrives, or any other computer readable storage medium, wherein, when thecomputer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, thecomputer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The presentinvention may also be embodied in the form of computer program code, forexample, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executedby a computer, or transmitted over some transmission medium, such asover electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or viaelectromagnetic radiation, wherein when the computer program code isloaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes anapparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on ageneral-purpose microprocessor, the computer program code segmentsconfigure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits. Thetechnical effect of the executable instructions is to control a vehiclesubsystem in response to a driver interface subsystem using acontrol-by-wire communication scheme that enables task scheduling andcommunication slot usage to be order independent.

As disclosed, some embodiments of the invention may include some of thefollowing advantages: order independence with regard to task schedulingwithin a communication cycle and order independence with regard tochannel slot usage, thereby enabling a greater degree of freedom for thescheduling of tasks under high volume production cycle constraints; theability to automate task and communication scheduling by way of aprogramming tool; the ability to compose a large control command systemusing smaller control command subsystems without the need to recreatethe schedule and/or re-verify its operation after integration; byenforcing a synchronous composition rule in the task cycle, somescheduling independence may still be available while maintainingconsistency between the application behavior and the synchronous modelbehavior; the ability to simulate and formally verify the composition ofthe distributed communication system using existing tools without theneed to re-simulate or re-verify for every small schedule change; and, atime-triggered distributed control system where the functional controlthreads that operate in parallel are allocated to the resources of thedistributed computing environment in such a manner as to preserve thetask ordering of each functional thread.

While the invention has been described with reference to exemplaryembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted forelements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. Inaddition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situationor material to the teachings of the invention without departing from theessential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the inventionnot be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best oronly mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that theinvention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of theappended claims. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. donot denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second,etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, theuse of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, butrather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.

1. A drive-by-communication-signal vehicle, comprising: a driverinterface subsystem having a sensor responsive to an operationalcharacteristic of the driver interface subsystem; a controllerresponsive to the sensor; a vehicle subsystem responsive to thecontroller; and a communication channel in signal communication with thedriver interface subsystem, the controller, and the vehicle subsystem;wherein the controller comprises: a storage medium; a processingcircuit; and a clock synchronization mechanism defining synchronouscommunication cycles, each communication cycle defining at least onetime interval; the storage medium, readable by the processing circuit,storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for:executing, within a first time interval, a first source task tobroadcast a first destination task; communicating, within a secondsequential time interval, the first destination task over a channel to afirst destination; consuming, within a third sequential time interval,the first destination task; allowing the execution of a second sourcetask to broadcast a second destination task within the first timeinterval; allowing the communication of the second destination task overthe channel to a second destination within the second sequential timeinterval; and allowing the consumption of the second destination taskwithin the third sequential time interval; wherein the first source taskis allowed to be scheduled ahead of the second source task, and thesecond source task is allowed to be scheduled ahead of the first sourcetask.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein: each of the first, the second,and the third time intervals are a synchronous communication cycle. 3.The vehicle of claim 1, wherein: each of the first, the second, and thethird time intervals are a sequential segment of at least onesynchronous communication cycle.
 4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein:each synchronous communication cycle comprises at least two segments. 5.The vehicle of claim 1, wherein: the communicating the first destinationtask over a channel comprises communicating the first destination taskover a first channel slot; the allowing the communication of the seconddestination task over the channel comprises allowing the communicationof the second destination task over a second channel slot; and the firstchannel slot is allowed to be scheduled ahead of the second channelslot, and the second channel slot is allowed to be scheduled ahead ofthe first channel slot.
 6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein: theconsumption of the first destination task is allowed to be scheduledahead of the consumption of the second destination task, and theconsumption of the second destination task is allowed to be scheduledahead of the consumption of the first destination task.
 7. The vehicleof claim 1, wherein: the driver interface subsystem comprises a steeringsystem interface, a braking system interface, a propulsion systeminterface, or any combination comprising at least one of the foregoinginterfaces; the vehicle subsystem comprises a steering control system, abraking control system, a propulsion control system, or any combinationcomprising at least one of the foregoing control systems; the firstsource task broadcasts a vehicle subsystem control signal in response tothe sensed operational characteristic; and the first destination taskdefines a vehicle subsystem control function in response to the firstsource task.
 8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein: the controller operablyresponds, in accordance with the first source task, to the operationalcharacteristic received from the sensor; and the vehicle subsystemoperably responds, in accordance with the first destination task, to thecontrol signal received from the controller.